Brave New World
by sugarplum.prince
Summary: After the Well closed, InuYasha makes it to Kagome's era. Now he has to live with his decision.


****might make this a full story. let me know if i should. k thx

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Choking on the thick smog that was the air in her era, InuYasha looked around the Well house in complete disbelief. It worked. After four years of trying and trying and trying, it worked. Just like that.

His grin faded as he realized that Kagome's scent was stale. She hadn't been here for over a year. Maybe longer. Letting out a shaky breath, InuYasha tried to stomp down the slight heartache he felt at the realization and slowly made his way up the stairs. He didn't smell her nearby either.

Ice shot through his veins as he reached for the door. Had she forgotten him? Moved on even? He'd been almost religiously trying the well for years. Never giving up on finding a way back to her. Knowing he belonged by her side. And she...

Obviously didn't feel that way. Her heart dropped into his stomach like a boulder and he bit back a wave of nausea. If she had moved on...if she no longer loved him, he didn't know what he would do. It wasn't like he could go back. He was pretty sure this had been a one way trip.

He retracted his hand and cradled it against his chest. Should he even go out there? Did he _actually_ want to know why she hadn't been trying? What if it was something worse than her not loving him? Four years was a long time. _Anything_could've happened to her after he wasn't there to protect her.

He took a step back and sighed shakily. Maybe he should try to go back. Where people who cared for him still lived and where he'd found a place to belong. He wouldn't belong here anyway now that he thought about it. What could he really do here? He didn't understand how _anything_ worked. Back then did he sound stupid to her? Yeah, he could read and write okay...for his era...but the times he had tried to read those textbooks of hers they might as well have been written in code. Half of the words looked fake to him. He didn't understand...

A shuddering breath escaped his lips as he swallowed thickly. Four years he'd wasted holding onto the belief that she still loved him and was waiting for him. Four long, _agonizing_ years.

His ears flattened against his scalp. He needed to see either way. Needed that last affirmation that she was gone. To at least see her one last time. Exhaling, he moved towards the door again and opened it before blinking rapidly in confusion.

It looked like a war zone. The tile that usually covered the shrine was broken into pieces with strange orange triangles and yellow streamers surrounding it. People in masks were wandering around with strange instruments he didn't have the first idea what were. One of them noticed his sudden arrival and rushed over.

"Sir you need to leave," the man ordered sternly as he gripped Inuyasha's arm and began dragging him towards the exit, "It isn't safe here."

"What happened?" InuYasha blurted as relief and terror flooded his system.

"Sulfur dioxide leak," the man sighed heavily, "You know, from the near eruption of Mt. Fuji last year? Shrine was on a fault line and the resulting earthquake exposed a pocket. Either way it's toxic. No one is allowed in or out without government clearance. I don't know how you got in here but it isn't safe. Even the family who runs it had to evacuate."

"Where did they go?" Inuysha breathed before choking slightly. The guy wasn't joking. That stuff was potent. No wonder Kagome hadn't been near the well. Hell he'd be mad if she had.

"I think they moved a few blocks that way," the man sighed as he pointed, "The elderly gentleman opened a kiosk dedicated to this place. Can't miss it."

InuYasha laughed shakily before quickly descending the steps as other men in masks stared at him angrily and one of them muttered scathingly '_cosplayers_'.

It took every ounce of willpower he possessed not to take off like a bat out of hell. He needed to seem normal. He was going to be living here now. He needed to fit in. Or try to fit in anyway. He paused and looked down at his claws. How was he supposed to ever pass as _normal_? He wasn't _normal_ in the feudal era so he sure as hell wasn't going to be normal _here_.

Shaking his head, he continued on and ignored the stares of passers by. It didn't matter. Even if Kagome had moved elsewhere the old man would know where she went and he'd find her.

His heart skipped a beat as the most wonderful scent hit his nose and he quickened his pace. She was there. He could smell her. Oh god he could smell her. He grinned crookedly before his face fell and he paused. What if she had moved on? She had always been softhearted and all things good. What if she had mated someone? She wouldn't be the type to have someone on the side and it would hurt her to know he'd abandoned his world just to be with her when it wasn't meant to be after all.

He looked back down at his claws and sighed. For someone who'd stared death in the face more times than he could count, he was just being a coward. He needed to trust her. She would've been trying if she could without suffocating _surely_. He'd never doubted her before and he certainly wasn't going to go into this moment he'd only dreamed of for years on that foot.

The scent grew stronger and he raised shaky amber eyes only to see Kagome standing across the street. Her much shorter hair blowing lazily in the sudden breeze as her face betrayed her complete shock. It took all of five seconds before she was running towards him. Ten seconds for her to be wrapping her arms around him. Fifteen for her to place the kiss he'd been waiting for on his lips.

He groaned as he eagerly returned the favor and pulled her closer to him as tightly as he dared.

"You're here," Kagome panted as she finally pulled away and grinned up at him with tears in her eyes, "I thought...I'm sure you saw the shrine. I thought...I can't believe you're here. I've missed you so much."

InuYasha laughed shakily as he pressed his forehead against hers and nuzzled her nose. The words he had never said spilling from his lips as he breathed in her scent like a man dying of thirst.

"Of course I'm here," he breathed cockily as he closed his eyes and drew her back to him, "I love you."

Kagome hummed as she drank in those three little words and wrapped her arms tightly around him.

"I love you too."


End file.
